Your Humble Scribe

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Road trip

This Saturday, Reno and I drove over to Grayson County for a bit of a shufti. Pretty country, but I'm a bit puzzled by those tall-ish thingies with the green-and-brown bits. Got bark kind of like a bush, only they're a hell of a lot bigger. And they're everywhere. Weird. Stopped in Muenster at Fischer's Meat Market and filled up a cooler with various meats and cheeses. I'm noshing on sliced summer sausage and smoked cheddar as I type this. Heaven. Lake Texoma is a good-looking lake, but I'm frankly bloody amazed that anything fed by the Red River can ever be any shade of colour other than mud. I'll be a son-of-a-gun, though, Lake Texoma was the prettiest shade of blue that I've seen in a long time. Went by the Gander Mountain store in Sherman -- and actually met a friendly gun-counter person! Let me coon-finger a Stoeger Cougar 9mm and a CZ P01, and then we chatted. First time in a long time that a gun-store person just gossiped with me -- and that earns the Gander Mountain in Sherman the LawDog Paw of Approval. Denison seems to be a pretty little town, some of the older houses are downright gorgeous, but I think at least one of the residents is a little more perceptive than I was ready for. Reno and I stopped at a small business on what seemed to be the downtown area of Denison, and walked into a store. I walked up to the counter, smiled at the lady behind it and asked, "How long have you lived here?" Lady gives me Ye Olde Hairy Eyeball, looks at Reno (manfully keeping his knuckles off the carpet) back to me (attempting to hide all fangs and tentacles) and says, slightly suspiciously, "All my life." "That's good" I say, "Now, this is going to sound a bit odd -- but where is the good section of town and where is the bad section?" "Oh,"she says, visibly relaxing, "Cops." What? Did somebody tattoo this on my forehead when I wasn't looking? Do out-of-town off-duty officers walk into businesses on a regular basis, flash their ID's and ask where the good and bad sections of town are? What about that question screams, "COP!"? Huh? Totally gobsmacked me, I'm here to tell you. Anyhoo, a nice little side trip, very much needed. Metroplex next, I think. LawDog

You're not used to friendly gun store clerks ? That's odd. In a sample of two in Tucson and about a half dozen in the San Francisco area I have yet to run into a clerk less than civil. Spiegels in Oakland and the Old West Gun Room in El Cerrito are/were very friendly places. Spiegels is either gone or I really can't remember the name. From the reviews Google found, the Old West hasn't changed.

One of the kids working in one of the shops in Tucson cracked me and a buddy up. We were young (18/19) and into guns, and were currently playing a *lot* of modern RPGs in college. Classic characters. We were looking at SIGs and, while I was sighting in on a spec on the linoleum, the kid asks us "So, you guys are cops right ?"

We mumbled something about private security and made our exit, hopped on our bikes and rode back to campus. I've spent much of my life looking about 25.

We rented cabins at Lake Texoma twenty years ago while we were on leave from Sheppard AFB. We did a little water skiing while we were there and the entire lake was the color of mud. I am from the Peoples republic of Washington state so the mud colored water kind of grossed me out. But the beer was cold and the people were friendly! We had a great time! LC

You keep telling people to "take the position" and they might have a clue as to what you do for a living.If you'd gone a little further north and west you'd be in Madill, OK. Maybe 9 miles up from the border. Wife's Uncle Audeen's still there - about 84. Had an uncle like him when I was a kid. One of those who knows the land. Wife would like to build a small ranch house down there, close to the lake. As long as we get back to Colorado on occasion. I can handle the snakes, but not the tornadoes! Around here, what you get at Sportsman's Warehouse depends on who's behind the counter; the one in Aurora is usually good. The Firing Line in Aurora is where I drop in when I just want to see what's new - and old. Crew there know what they're talking about. OldeForce

I'm not suprised the lady was suspicious. You walked in and asked two very odd questions without any word of explanation. Q1 screams "Will anyone miss you if you go missing." And yes, cops do have a look.

Hmm, the GM here in Beaumont has plenty of friendly counter-help... as long as you're a guy. My wife is practically invisible to those folks, even tho she's the one with questions about something we're looking at (and the money to buy it if she likes it).